A burst of extremes is coming, with sun, subzero temps

The snow is done falling for now and sun is on its way, only to be followed by a temperature drop into subzero territory.

But, the National Weather Service says, at least we aren't in for a repeat of the first part of last February, which brought repeated bouts of heavy snow on the heels of a brutally frigid polar vortex.

Sunday's snow pushed the metro area about 4 inches past the normal snowfall total of about 36 inches for this point in the season.

The same storm delivered more than 15 inches of light, fluffy snow to Lake Crystal and 11.5 inches to Mankato. Bloomington received 7.5 inches and Blaine got about 4.

The Twin Cities declared snow emergencies to take effect at 9 p.m. Sunday. Bloomington, Plymouth, Eden Prairie, Richfield and Robbinsdale also made declarations.

"This was a compact but strong storm so the center of its energy brought quite a bit of snow, especially for a system like this," said Chris O'Brien, meteorologist at the NWS office in Chanhassen.

More snow could be on the way later this week, though it's too far out to predict totals.

"At this time last year, [Minneapolis] had received 28.2 inches and we finished the season with over 60 inches, so there's potential for more snow yet this month," said O'Brien. "But it doesn't look like we're in for that again."

Monday and Tuesday are forecast to be sunny with highs in the upper 20s. Wednesday afternoon will bring a slight chance of snow with a warmup into the mid-30s. Then the cold snap arrives. Temperatures are expected to drop late Wednesday with a low of 4 below on Wednesday night and a low of 10 below on Thursday night. Temperatures are expected to hover around zero all day Thursday.

"But, again, it won't be a long stretch of cold like last year. It's a quick hit and it'll warm up again to near freezing by Saturday," O'Brien said, adding that the weekend may bring another snowstorm.

The sunny forecast for Monday and Tuesday can maybe ease the blow of the coming cold snap. Remember how gloomy and cloudy January was?

Said O'Brien: "At least that's over finally."